Michelangelo’s Puzzle tells the dramatic story of a young boy’s undying dream to become a great fresco painter; and the fear he had to overcome from the beatings his father gave him for wanting to pursue that dream. Three times Michelangelo runs away from his dream: the first when he’s a 14 year old apprentice painter ...

When the guards brought Michelangelo into the Sala dei Gigli, Soderini was pacing back and forth in front of Ghirlandaio’s frescoes, and Niccolo Machiavelli was sitting with his feet propped up on Soderini’s desk, reading Caesar’s Commentaries on the Civil War.

The Sala dei Gigli – Piero Soderini’s office

“What the hell did you do?” Soderini shouted as soon as he saw Michelangelo.

“I’m — I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Soderini brandished a letter with the papal seal. “I’m not accustomed to receiving irate letters from the pope. He’s demanding I send you back.”

Piero Soderini

It was as he feared. Michelangelo shook his head. “Julius refused to pay me what I was rightfully owed under our contract. That’s why I left Rome. It’s a legal dispute.”

“Are you crazy, or just a fool?” Soderini threw down the letter next to Machiavelli’s feet.

“I don’t work for nothing. I’m not his slave.” Michelangelo’s voice rose. “I’ll never go back to work for him.”

“He’s the pope! And he’s demanding I send you back in chains if need be. Tell me why I shouldn’t.”

Machiavelli slowly looked up from his book. “I might as well say the same about you. Twice you have left us here to explain that you’ve run off to Rome, when we’re paying you good money to paint the Great Hall.”

“Niccolo, you know I’m a man of my word,” said Michelangelo. “I’m not like Julius. You must believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe,” Machiavelli answered. “Julius has the church and an army standing behind him, and he’s not afraid to use either.”

Michelangelo turned to Soderini. “The last time I saw you, you didn’t want me to go to Rome. Now that I’m here and ready to paint, you want to send me back?”

Soderini’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re ready to paint?”

“I’m already back at work on the drawings.”

“When can you begin?”

“I have to finalize the drawings, line up some assistants, and prepare the wall. I should start painting in a month or so.”

Soderini let out a yelp. “I’ve been waiting a long time to see the two of you working side by side on that wall.”

“What are we to do about the pope?” asked Machiavelli.

“Well,” Michelangelo said slowly, “You could tell him I can sculpt his tomb in Florence just as easily as I can in Rome. That will let me satisfy him while also painting your battle scene.”

“That could work,” said Soderini. “Yes, I will do just that.”

Soon afterward, Michelangelo left the Sala dei Gigli and made his way down the wide marble staircase.

He had been away four months, and was sure Leonardo’s battle scene was even better than when he had last seen it. The thought made his throat tighten. Once he saw it he would know what he needed to match — and he still wasn’t at all certain that he could do so.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he smelled a whiff of smoke coming from the entrance to the Great Hall. Then he heard shouting. Was that Leonardo? It couldn’t be, because the man Michelangelo was listening to sounded like he was in some kind of trouble.

Sistine Chapel Images

Michelangelo's Puzzle - Chapters from the Story

By all accounts, Michelangelo was not considered to be physically attractive. His large head was even more noticeable because his stature was short. His nose was broken, flattened by Pietro Torrigiano ten years earlier. Well-dressed and handsome he was not. Michelangelo decided that his David would possess all the traits he always hoped to see ...

Bramante’s work on the new St. Peter’s had made it all but impossible for mass to be celebrated there, so Julius moved daily mass to the Sistine Chapel. Julius liked the chapel. His uncle Sixtus had built it 26 years earlier. The walls were beautifully adorned with frescoes by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, and Rosselli. The ...

Michelangelo passed the sweltering August night in his workshop, awake. He slumped over his drafting table, drinking a bottle of Chianti his brother Buonarroto had sent him. It was impossible to forget the stinging words of his critics that day. Where’s the theme? one cardinal had asked. He’s really not very good at foreshortening, Bramante ...

Not long after the Sistine Chapel ceiling was completed, Pope Julius’s dream of a united Italy began to give way to reality when the Venetians and King Louis talked of forming a new alliance. It was dream-crushing news for Julius, who took to his bed two months after the ceiling was finished, overcome by fever. ...

Michelangelo Buonarroti

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”